IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/v42y2010i1p23-36.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Price dispersion and price indexes

Author

Listed:
  • Vera Lucia Fava

Abstract

The traditional theory of price index numbers is based on the law of one price. But in the real world, we frequently observe the existence of an equilibrium price dispersion instead of one price of equilibrium. This article discusses the effects of price dispersion on two price indexes: the cost of living index and the consumer price index. With price dispersion and consumer searching for the lowest price, these indexes cannot be interpreted as deterministic indicators, but as stochastic indicators, and they can be biased if price dispersion is not taken into account. A measure for the bias of the consumer price index is proposed and the article ends with an estimation of the bias based on data obtained from the consumer price index calculated for the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, from January 1988 through December 2004. The period analysed is very interesting, because it exhibits different inflationary environments: high levels and high volatility of the rates of inflation with great price dispersion until July 1994 and low and relatively stable rates of inflation with prices less dispersed after August 1994.

Suggested Citation

  • Vera Lucia Fava, 2010. "Price dispersion and price indexes," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(1), pages 23-36.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:42:y:2010:i:1:p:23-36
    DOI: 10.1080/00036840701579168
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00036840701579168
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00036840701579168?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. R. G. D. Allen, 1975. "Index Numbers in Theory and Practice," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-02312-7, September.
    2. Spanos,Aris, 1986. "Statistical Foundations of Econometric Modelling," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521269124, November.
    3. Matthew D. Shapiro & David W. Wilcox, 1996. "Mismeasurement in the Consumer Price Index: An Evaluation," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1996, Volume 11, pages 93-154, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elena Lasarte Navamuel & Dusan Paredes & Esteban Fernández Vázquez, 2012. "A true cost of living index for Spain using a microeconomic approach and censored data," Documentos de Trabajo en Economia y Ciencia Regional 26, Universidad Catolica del Norte, Chile, Department of Economics, revised Aug 2012.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marshall Reinsdorf & Jack E. Triplett, 2009. "A Review of Reviews: Ninety Years of Professional Thinking About the Consumer Price Index," NBER Chapters, in: Price Index Concepts and Measurement, pages 17-83, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. David F. Hendry, 2011. "Empirical Economic Model Discovery and Theory Evaluation," Rationality, Markets and Morals, Frankfurt School Verlag, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, vol. 2(46), October.
    3. Gianluca Baio & Laura Magazzini & Antonio Nicita & Fabio Pammolli & Massimo Riccaboni, 2003. "Il Decreto DL 15/04/2002, n. 63 sul Contenimento della Spesa Farmaceutica - Impatto sull'Industria e Distorsioni nel Funzionamento del Mercato," Working Papers CERM 0-2003, Competitività, Regole, Mercati (CERM).
    4. Sadorsky, P. A., 1989. "Measuring Resource Scarcity in Non-renewable Resources with Inequality Constrained Estimation," Queen's Institute for Economic Research Discussion Papers 275216, Queen's University - Department of Economics.
    5. Berndt Ernst R. & Cockburn Iain M. & Cocks Douglas L. & Epstein Arnold M. & Griliches Zvi, 1998. "Is Price Inflation Different for the Elderly? An Empirical Analysis of Prescription Drugs," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 1-45, January.
    6. Edoardo Lorenzetti, 2005. "Analysis of the resource concentration on size and research performance: The case of Italian National Research Council over the period 2000-2004," CERIS Working Paper 200502, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY.
    7. David M. Byrne & John G. Fernald & Marshall B. Reinsdorf, 2016. "Does the United States Have a Productivity Slowdown or a Measurement Problem?," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 47(1 (Spring), pages 109-182.
    8. Peter J. Klenow & Oleksiy Kryvtsov, 2008. "State-Dependent or Time-Dependent Pricing: Does it Matter for Recent U.S. Inflation?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(3), pages 863-904.
    9. repec:zbw:bofrdp:1995_009 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. McGuirk, Anya M. & Spanos, Aris, 2004. "Revisiting Error Autocorrelation Correction: Common Factor Restrictions And Granger Causality," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20176, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    11. Aris Spanos & Niki Papadopoulou, 2013. "A Small Macroeconometric Model for the Cyprus Economy," Working Papers 2013-02, Central Bank of Cyprus.
    12. Günther Rehme, 2011. "Endogenous Policy And Cross‐Country Growth Empirics," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 58(2), pages 262-296, May.
    13. Allan Crawford, 1998. "Measurement biases in the Canadian CPI: An update," Bank of Canada Review, Bank of Canada, vol. 1998(Spring), pages 39-56.
    14. Kenn Ariga & Kenji Matsui, 2003. "Mismeasurement of the CPI," NBER Chapters, in: Structural Impediments to Growth in Japan, pages 89-154, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Dan H. Andersen & Hans-Joachim Voth, 1997. "Neutrality and Mediterranean Shipping Under Danish Flag, 1750-1807," Oxford University Economic and Social History Series _018, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
    16. Sari Pekkala & Jari Ritsila, 2001. "A Macroeconomic Analysis of Regional Migration in Finland, 1975-95," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 29(3), pages 226-240, Winter.
    17. Huerga, Javier & Steklacova, Lucia, 2008. "An application of index numbers theory to interest rates," Working Paper Series 939, European Central Bank.
    18. Peter Gottschalk, 1997. "Inequality, Income Growth, and Mobility: The Basic Facts," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(2), pages 21-40, Spring.
    19. François Coppens & Fernando Gonzáles & Gerhard Winkler, 2007. "The performance of credit rating systems in the assessment of collateral used in Eurosystem monetary policy operations," Working Paper Research 118, National Bank of Belgium.
    20. Adrian C. Darnell, 1994. "A Dictionary Of Econometrics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 118, December.
    21. Erik Meijer & Jan Rouwendal, 2006. "Measuring welfare effects in models with random coefficients," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(2), pages 227-244, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:42:y:2010:i:1:p:23-36. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.